Music in Lucid Dreams:
Exploring The Creative Unconscious

Creating music in lucid dreams reveals more of the amazing power of the creative unconscious. If you already play a musical instrument, you can produce complex new melodies in your conscious dreams. And if not, you can recall music you have heard in the real world perfectly - as if by magic.

This is just one of the many creative benefits of lucid dreaming. The same principles apply if you want to paint or write a story. This article is about tapping into the enormous potential of the unconscious mind.

Playing Piano The Traditional Way

I started learning how to play the piano when I was six years old. I did everything the traditional way - memorizing chords and scales until they became ingrained. I practiced every day, learning each new song parrot style.

When I was ten, I gave up playing the piano. It was too much like a chore. Learning one tedious song after another gave me no creative enjoyment and limited my capacity for creating my own melodies.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I had not even scratched the surface of my musical creativity. I barely touched a piano for the next ten years.

Playing Piano in Lucid Dreams

Then one day, years later, I heard a piano solo that completely blew me away. The sound of the classical piano playing was completely natural and easy - and I wondered why I never progressed to that level.

I started to learn how to play the piano again - but this time, I taught myself. I paid no attention to formal grading and only learned the pieces I wanted to play. I quickly re-discovered my passion for the piano that I had originally felt all those years ago. It wasn't long before I integrated my music in lucid dreams.

In my conscious dream, I sat myself down at a huge grand piano in a packed music hall... and just played. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I could play any advanced piece I wanted!

In lucid dreams, my conscious brain and the dream piano became one. I didn't worry about hitting the right notes, I just put my fingers on the keys and played. I was able to set my creative unconscious mind free.

Other times I have created music in lucid dreams without playing any instrument. I just fly or run really fast and let the music join me. It creates a very memorable lucid dream although I have yet to bring any music back with me by recreating it in the real world. (Unlike Pete who has recreated a number of songs from his lucid dreams, including the popular Lucid. See his article on how to create music in lucid dreams.)

Improving Your Procedural Memory

I believe you can also enhance your piano playing skills (or whatever instrument you play) in a lucid dream. For instance, when I find a new song I want to learn, I listen to it several times and allow it to run through my head while I fall asleep. This is virtually automatic, like when you get the same song stuck in your head. It stays there in the background while I practice the MILD technique and set my lucid dream intention.

Then I make a point to incorporate this piano song in a lucid dream. If you deliberately play the instrument in the dream, the amazing result is that it actually improves your procedural memory when you wake up. This is the automatic, unconscious memory for performing certain actions, in this case hitting the right keys at the right time.

Scientific evidence shows this is often the case: performing something in a lucid dream creates the same muscle memory as if you had done it in real life. This basis for procedural memory is another benefit of lucid dreaming used by all kinds of professionals - from surgeons to athletes.

Final Thoughts

However, even if you don't play a musical instrument (such as the handpan, you can still experience vivid music in lucid dreams. Have you ever stopped to listen to music in a dream - lucid or otherwise? Did you ever wonder where that sound was coming from?

It is all coming from your memory and your creative unconscious. It demonstrates the potential for you to consciously create intricate musical patterns, while also allowing input from your dreaming unconscious mind.

So don't hold back. Give your innate musical ear a chance to work on its own. Allow your creative unconscious mind to create music in lucid dreams.